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Mexico between Hitler and Roosevelt: Mexican Foreign Relations in the Age of Lazaro Cardenas, 1934-1940 By FRIEDRICH E. SCHULER. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998. Notes. Bibliography. Index. x, 269 pp. Cloth, $47.50.
Friedrich Schuler's well-researched account of Mexican foreign relations during the 1930s makes an important contribution to the postrevisionist literature on the administration of President Lazaro Cardenas. Based on United States and Mexican archival material, and to a lesser degree on British and German primary sources, Schuler undermines dependency theory by accurately demonstrating that Mexico was not a pawn in the battle between the great powers. Rather, Mexican officials outmaneuvered their United States and European counterparts and expanded their country's political and economic sovereignty by manipulating the opportunities generated by World War II.
Mexico's international success during the Cardenas administration, according to Schuler, stemmed from the establishment of a professional-technocratic diplomatic corps during the postrevolutionary era. Until then, Mexico's Foreign Ministry was filled mostly with political hacks. However, the Great Depression, and the emerging consensus regarding the need to modernize agricultural production and accelerate...